Know any senior volunteers?

RIVERSIDE COUNTY  I received an email the other day from a private company that services senior citizens in our area and that now wants to honor a few of them in a very special, and public, way.

In order to do that, however, they need your help.

Last year, Home Instead Senior Care, a company based in Omaha, Neb., with offices in Southern California, sponsored the inaugural Salute to Senior Service project.

It’s a way of honoring seniors for all the volunteer work they do and it could result in a hefty donation to their favorite non-profit organizations.

They ask people to submit written summaries about seniors who are doing outstanding volunteer work in their communities. It can be any variety of activities, ranging from volunteering at the local library, to tutoring young folks in a classroom, to selling snacks at the Little League concession stands. Seniors do a lot of important work in our cities that often gets overlooked.

Each submission is in fact a nomination that’s weighed by a panel of judges against all others from the state of California. The state winner will win $500 for their favorite non-profit organization and then be eligible for the national contest. That winner’s favorit non-profit will receive a $5,000 donation.

But here’s the dilemma, according Melissa Hoeman, a spokeswoman for Home Instead:

“The entries are starting to come in.” she said, “and unfortunately we haven’t seen any come from the (Southwest County) region.”

Now come on, folks, you can’t tell me there aren’t plenty of senior adults around here doing some pretty fabulous things for our little corner of the world.

People like Clark Paradise of Tom’s River, N.J., who was the inaugural winner of last year’s national contest. At the age of 85, Paradise and his wife Jean run a clothing bank for the homeless in their community. And they were extremely busy after Hurricane Sandy blew through their state last fall.

The California winner last year was Rose Eldridge of Norco, who works tirelessly for senior causes at town meetings. She also delivers food for seniors in her community and even makes sure their pets are well fed and cared for.

There were three nominees from Southwest County last year ---- one from Menifee (Sun City) and two from Temecula. And there were only 90 nominations submitted statewide, which means that the chance of winning the state contest is at least reasonable.

If you’re interested in learning more, go to http://www.salutetoseniorservice.com/volunteer-contest/entries/rose-e/ which gives all the rules and details.

So if you know of anyone you think is worthy, get those nominations in. They must be submitted by March 31 and the winners will be announced in June. Last year, about 1,500 nominations were accepted from across the country, according to Hoeman.

“It’s just our way to highlight and salute all the good things that seniors do in a community,” she said. “And by volunteering it’s also a good way for seniors to stay active.”

If you know of an idea or someone that would make for a good column, contact Jim Rothgeb at jrothgeb@californian.com or call (951) 676-4315, ext. 2621.